Where is the next British Top Fuel Dragster?
Discussion
Competitive Top Fuel Dragster that is.
Looking around there doesn’t seem to be any threat to the continental or Scandinavian dominance in the class. Britain is conspicuous in its absence in the Top Fuel ranks where as the Finns seem to be Top Fuel crazy. How can that be?
The sport has been running for longer in the UK and we have a Top Fuel heritage going back to the 60’s. We have a larger population than all the Scandinavian countries put together and I would hazard a guess, more rich people. We have been at the heart of many forms of motorsport. So why not Top Fuel? Is it because dragracing is snobbishly looked down on by the circuit racers, is there a credibility problem towards Top Fuel in Britain?
Also how much does a team need to spend to run a season of racing in the FIA Championship?
Looking around there doesn’t seem to be any threat to the continental or Scandinavian dominance in the class. Britain is conspicuous in its absence in the Top Fuel ranks where as the Finns seem to be Top Fuel crazy. How can that be?
The sport has been running for longer in the UK and we have a Top Fuel heritage going back to the 60’s. We have a larger population than all the Scandinavian countries put together and I would hazard a guess, more rich people. We have been at the heart of many forms of motorsport. So why not Top Fuel? Is it because dragracing is snobbishly looked down on by the circuit racers, is there a credibility problem towards Top Fuel in Britain?
Also how much does a team need to spend to run a season of racing in the FIA Championship?
The snobbish attitude is understandable.
Look around yourself at the Pod and then go to events like the Silverstone Classic and do the same. What particularly winds me up is looking at the trade stands at the Finals meeting and seeing a T-Shirt with C**T emblazened across it. When we have sponsors guests and new visitors this makes the sport look very down market and base. We all love the sport and a lot of this stuff washes over us but others notice it and it devalues their experience and impression. As long as we continue to allow this kind of thing we will never attract new visitors, sponsors and improved media coverage. I think KB ought to take this point seriously.
The more obvious issue is that in the UK we have multiple sports competing for the sponsorship available and the scandinavians do not. We are dominated by Football, driven by the media and most other sports have to pick over the scraps to find sponsors. What sponsors want is TV coverage and Drag Racing is not suitable for Live broadcast for obvious reasons. A good highlights package shown 1 week later would be a good start but it needs to be on more than the very specialist channels and not in the middle of the night. There is no easy answer but it is very frustrating. Traditionally Motorsport sponsors have tended to be Automotive related. Even in the heyday of the British Touring cars in the 90's, the big budgets were provided by the Manufacturers and the likes of Oil Companies, Tyre providers and other motor trade related companies. Motorsport is virtually the National Sport in Finland so they have more buying power with other sponsors and this may explain their growing presence in TF.
Look around yourself at the Pod and then go to events like the Silverstone Classic and do the same. What particularly winds me up is looking at the trade stands at the Finals meeting and seeing a T-Shirt with C**T emblazened across it. When we have sponsors guests and new visitors this makes the sport look very down market and base. We all love the sport and a lot of this stuff washes over us but others notice it and it devalues their experience and impression. As long as we continue to allow this kind of thing we will never attract new visitors, sponsors and improved media coverage. I think KB ought to take this point seriously.
The more obvious issue is that in the UK we have multiple sports competing for the sponsorship available and the scandinavians do not. We are dominated by Football, driven by the media and most other sports have to pick over the scraps to find sponsors. What sponsors want is TV coverage and Drag Racing is not suitable for Live broadcast for obvious reasons. A good highlights package shown 1 week later would be a good start but it needs to be on more than the very specialist channels and not in the middle of the night. There is no easy answer but it is very frustrating. Traditionally Motorsport sponsors have tended to be Automotive related. Even in the heyday of the British Touring cars in the 90's, the big budgets were provided by the Manufacturers and the likes of Oil Companies, Tyre providers and other motor trade related companies. Motorsport is virtually the National Sport in Finland so they have more buying power with other sponsors and this may explain their growing presence in TF.
Edited by Mark13 on Saturday 1st October 15:03
Its an interesting question, but for a minute let us put aside notions of inverted snobbery and apply some logic. There are a few issues here;
Firstly, the american car culture throughout the whole of Scandinavia and the Nordic states is enormous.
Secondly, Sweden, Norway and (especially) Finland are considerably more affluent societies than the UK. I do not intend to mention names, but it is fair to say that none of the Finnish Top Fuel teams set out on the tour with only one spare block and four heads. For three of the Finnish drivers, budgetary issues are not a constraint...
Another issue, discussed elsewhere at length, is the current feeder system in this country. As in there isnt one.
Finally, British drag racers are generally not looked down upon by mainstream motorsport. Quite the opposite in fact. If we take the example of the website you are currently reading. PH and the attendant community have embraced the sport and have a lot of admiration for what we do (look at the response to Red Victor 3). Contrast that to the sneering attitude towards "roundy roundy" racing displayed by the less open minded drag race fan on the bank.
Firstly, the american car culture throughout the whole of Scandinavia and the Nordic states is enormous.
Secondly, Sweden, Norway and (especially) Finland are considerably more affluent societies than the UK. I do not intend to mention names, but it is fair to say that none of the Finnish Top Fuel teams set out on the tour with only one spare block and four heads. For three of the Finnish drivers, budgetary issues are not a constraint...
Another issue, discussed elsewhere at length, is the current feeder system in this country. As in there isnt one.
Finally, British drag racers are generally not looked down upon by mainstream motorsport. Quite the opposite in fact. If we take the example of the website you are currently reading. PH and the attendant community have embraced the sport and have a lot of admiration for what we do (look at the response to Red Victor 3). Contrast that to the sneering attitude towards "roundy roundy" racing displayed by the less open minded drag race fan on the bank.
Mark13 said:
What particularly winds me up is looking at the trade stands at the Finals meeting and seeing a T-Shirt with C**T emblazened across it. When we have sponsors guests and new visitors this makes the sport look very down market and base.
I thought exactly the same, supposed to pride itself on being a family sport as well.I think Jon C's point about American car culture is a very important factor in the popularity of Scandanavian drag racing generally.
I think there is no shortage of affluent people in the UK.
The UK's per capita GDP is fairly similar to Finland's and there are more seriously rich people in the UK than in Finland.
But ... for what ever reason, they are not attracted to have a go at Top Fuel drag racing, or sponsoring it.
I could hazard some guesses as to why this is but since I am not seriously rich myself (sigh), I would only be speculating.
I think there is no shortage of affluent people in the UK.
The UK's per capita GDP is fairly similar to Finland's and there are more seriously rich people in the UK than in Finland.
But ... for what ever reason, they are not attracted to have a go at Top Fuel drag racing, or sponsoring it.
I could hazard some guesses as to why this is but since I am not seriously rich myself (sigh), I would only be speculating.
Jon C said:
...and the next competitive British Top Fuel car and team are currently sitting in Chris Andrews' unit...
I don't know anything about Chris Andrews. Has he raced nitro before? Has he got stacks of cash or a large sponsor? Talented crew chief and experienced crew? Because at the end of the day you stand zero chance of being competitive without all of the above and I'm bored with seeing people with a huge desire to drive a Top Fuel Dragster and little else. Without the knowledge and the funding it gets embarrassing.CH3NO2ADDICT said:
I think Jon C's point about American car culture is a very important factor in the popularity of Scandanavian drag racing generally.
I think there is no shortage of affluent people in the UK.
The UK's per capita GDP is fairly similar to Finland's and there are more seriously rich people in the UK than in Finland.
But ... for what ever reason, they are not attracted to have a go at Top Fuel drag racing, or sponsoring it.
I could hazard some guesses as to why this is but since I am not seriously rich myself (sigh), I would only be speculating.
I've always wondered what the return on sponsoring a T/F is, I mean corporate entities don't invest in stuff when there isn't a drink in it for them do they ? It's aleady been mentioned about the coverage going out on channels not available to all so I've always wondered, what's in it for the title and associate sponsors ?I think there is no shortage of affluent people in the UK.
The UK's per capita GDP is fairly similar to Finland's and there are more seriously rich people in the UK than in Finland.
But ... for what ever reason, they are not attracted to have a go at Top Fuel drag racing, or sponsoring it.
I could hazard some guesses as to why this is but since I am not seriously rich myself (sigh), I would only be speculating.
leffehoegaarden said:
Jon C said:
...and the next competitive British Top Fuel car and team are currently sitting in Chris Andrews' unit...
I don't know anything about Chris Andrews. Has he raced nitro before? Has he got stacks of cash or a large sponsor? Talented crew chief and experienced crew? Because at the end of the day you stand zero chance of being competitive without all of the above and I'm bored with seeing people with a huge desire to drive a Top Fuel Dragster and little else. Without the knowledge and the funding it gets embarrassing.Chris has run Top Fuel before yes. And he is very talented. He has a top notch car. Assuming all goes to plan he will have all the pieces in place.
Barry B said:
I've always wondered what the return on sponsoring a T/F is, I mean corporate entities don't invest in stuff when there isn't a drink in it for them do they ? It's aleady been mentioned about the coverage going out on channels not available to all so I've always wondered, what's in it for the title and associate sponsors ?
Sponsorship is rarely just about exposure for your brand. It's more often about creating an opening for doing business. Imagine a company pays to sponsor a sporting team of some sort. Sure, having their logo on the side of the car/boat/whatever and/or on the team shirts etc helps, particularly if that sport is watched by your target demographic. But where it really pays off is being able to bring potential customers and business partners to an event, wining them and dining them, and ultimately doing deals. That's why every stadium has endless rows of corporate boxes these days. Never underestimate the amount of business that's concluded on a corporate day out. In some industries, it's probably as much or more than is concluded in the boardroom.But FWIW, I used to work for a financial services company and tried to get them to sponsor a top fuel dragster (they were already sponsoring offshore powerboats at the time, so it seemed like a natural fit). Compared to other forms of motorsport, the outlay is a drop in the ocean. So the return on investment was purely about whether or not they could do enough business by taking people to watch the racing. Brand awareness would have been nice, but was way down the list.
Edited by Tet on Saturday 1st October 21:31
The thing that always surprises me is how classes like F3, which are vastly expensive to do a season of and generate almost no interest amongst spectators, seem to be able to get £ms in sponsorship every year. The Pod actually gets far bigger crowds than 90% of circuit racing {apart from the GP only the Touring cars and classics regularly get decent crowds} though coverage on TV and in the media is very limited.
It's always struck me that a TF car is a far more impressive machine than any circuit racer and cheaper to build and run than any of the main circuit racing cars but obviously not many in corporate UK agree with me.
The other way is to get some rich guy to pay for his hobby as happens with many sports but not that often with drag racing since John Woolfe. If I win the £85m on Tuesday I promise to set up a UK TF set up !
Bill
It's always struck me that a TF car is a far more impressive machine than any circuit racer and cheaper to build and run than any of the main circuit racing cars but obviously not many in corporate UK agree with me.
The other way is to get some rich guy to pay for his hobby as happens with many sports but not that often with drag racing since John Woolfe. If I win the £85m on Tuesday I promise to set up a UK TF set up !
Bill
leffehoegaarden said:
Maybe from start up; buying a car, renting a rig, spares and tools but I don't thing it would cost anywhere near that to run a season. I'm guessing you could get by comfortably on under 100k.
What experience are you basing this on? I note you've still not signed in on the register, or put a name on your profile...leffehoegaarden said:
Maybe from start up; buying a car, renting a rig, spares and tools but I don't thing it would cost anywhere near that to run a season. I'm guessing you could get by comfortably on under 100k.
FFS! So why ask the question then?BTW: Register. Just let us know a bit about you.....
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